Posted under Miscellaneous
In the left column, the Search feature allows you to search all that we have written on this blog. You can search for a person (Spurgeon, Keller, Horton, Sproul, Fee, Lloyd-Jones, Schaeffer, etc.), a subject (parents, marriage, gossip, grace, India, etc.) or keyword. Of course you can click on a Category in the left column as well. Go ahead, give it go.
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Posted under World Affairs
Former President and Nobel Laureate, Jimmy Carter, has written a new book entitled, “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work.” He begins his introduction by saying, “I am writing another book about the Middle East because the new president of the United States is facing a major opportunity — and responsibility — to lead in ending conflict between Israel and its neighbors. The time is now. Peace is possible.”
William Gladstone (1809-1898) was Prime Minister of Great Britain four times:
1868-74, 1880-85, 1886 and 1892-94. He called the Qur’an an “accursed book” and once held it up during a session of Parliament, declaring: “So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world.”
So who’s correct?
I’ve prepared this study guide if you’d like to do a quick review before you answer:
Fight them until resistance is no more, and religion is all for Allah (Qur’an, Sura 8:39)
Muslims Drive Christian Grandparents From Home
Muslims Gang-Rape Pastor’s Wife
Muslims Force Conversion By Kidnapping and Raping Two Teenage Christians
Top Saudi Threatens U.S. Over Israel
If They Don’t Leave, I Will Kill Them
www.thereligionofpeace.com
What is the proper Christian response to Muslims? “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:44,45). “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15).
Posted under Life & Culture & Ethics & Christian Living
i like this kid. he’s showing serious leadership and character. i hope G is this strong. are you?
authors notes: video link fixed, and did you notice that this kid is from SOUTH PASADENA!?
Posted under science
sonia and i watched the movie “expelled” a few nights ago. ben stein travels around the world interviewing high profile scientists and professors that have lost their positions and/or tenure based upon their willingness to consider the idea of intelligent design. this is a must-see for anyone who wants to see what’s going on behind the scenes of big science and university level science education and research.
i am both a scientist (if you believe my degree - but i consider myself more an engineer than a scientist) and a christian, completely comfortable with the ideas that science and theism are not only related but also intertwined. but i recognize that i am in the minority.
to be honest, i can’t argue for or against evolution very well. i don’t believe that the theory of evolution is as sound as many would like to argue, but it’s not high on my list of things to explore. i am, however, an ardent supporter of intelligent design.
my favorite part of the movie was a section where once scientist discussed worldview and research. he basically made the claim that scientists can research in one of two fashions: worldview leads science, or science leads worldview.
this obviously is a double-edged sword, but most scientists allow their worldview to exclude the possibility, and therefore the study of, intelligent design. this is a huge mistake made by the scientific community.
consider the many scientists in our history that have been both scientists and theists as well as their contributions to science:
this list is long people and this is just a small sample. if believing in God was a barrier for scientific thought, none of these people could have made the discoveries that they did.
science can only take us so far in terms of explaining how we came to be. even the leading darwinists cannot account for the very beginning of life. but the Bible can and does.
we know from the Scriptures that it was God that breathed life, that it was His plan from the beginning.
the more we study science, the more evident it becomes that the design itself, while being exquisitely intelligent, pales in comparison to its Designer.
check the trailer below (BTW, the official site link at the top of this blog entry has more videos from the movie, including one with leading darwinist/atheist charles dawkins telling the world that life may have been planted here by space aliens..no joke):
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Posted under Miscellaneous
Do you remember the dream Pilate’s wife had? (Matt 27:19)
We read about other dreams in the Bible which various leaders had. I’m praying President Obama will have terrifying dreams of aborted babies, and women who have died while having forced sterilizations abroad, and women and teenage girls who have died during or from abortions here in the U.S.
Will you join me in praying that President Obama will have these disturbing, heart-changing dreams? All around the world the Lord is giving life-changing dreams to people. Let’s pray this for our president.
I talk about some of the other things I am praying in the comments HERE.
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Posted under Culture & Church & Justice
Flags should be at half-mast today; we should be wearing black arm bands — or sackcloth and ashes. Thirty-six years ago, seven American men, who sat on the highest court in our land, shook their fist in God’s face and said, in essence, we don’t care what you say, we declare that killing unborn children is not murder and should be a legal medical procedure.
If the current administration does what it promised to do, pass the Freedom of Choice Act, federal regulations will trump all state and local laws regarding abortion. Abortion on demand will become codified, and quite likely, all U.S. taxpayers will be funding abortions at any stage of pregnancy for any reason, both here and abroad. Right now, we are murdering 4000 unborn babies every day; it is almost certain that the FOCA will cause that number to increase.
I exhort you to diligently and passionately pray against this American holocaust. There is nothing more important or more powerful than prayer that we can do to fight abortion. Perhaps almost as powerful, and certainly as important, is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from any discussion of abortion, and lead people into a relationship with our Savior.
I also encourage you to read some today, and in the future, about this blight on our nation.
In a sworn affidavit, Norma McCorvey, A.k.a. Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, says, “Virtually the entire basis for Roe v. Wade was built upon false assumptions.” She goes on to say, “I obviously advocated legalized abortion for many years following Roe v. Wade. But working in the abortion clinics forced me to accept what abortion is. It is a violent act which kills human beings and destroys the peace and the real interests of the mothers involved. This court must do what was not done in Roe v. Wade. It must have a trial and make findings of fact based upon real evidence. Abortion must be publicly defined. The humanity of the child must be determined. The exploitation of the women must be looked at. The health risks must be examined. The abusive practices of the abortion industry must be waived and the mothers’ real interests must be considered. After I saw all the deception going on in the abortion facilities, and after all the things that my supervisors told me to tell the women, I became very angry. I saw women being lied to, openly, and I was part of it. There’s no telling how many children I helped kill while their mothers dug their nails into me and listened to my warning, ‘Whatever you do, don’t move!’ I can assure the court that the interest of these mothers is not a concern of abortion providers.” Read it all here.
Read How To Defend Your Pro-Life Views in 5 Minutes or Less.
Watch this video. (It’s not bloody or gory, but it will make you say, “WOW!” Really, you have to see it. It’s not what you think. Just watch it, already!)
Read Dr. John Piper’s piece regarding Lincoln’s Logic on Slavery Applied to Abortion.
Read Robert P. George’s speech, Our Struggle for the Soul of our Nation.
Resolve today that you will not sit silently in the grandstands watching this holocaust unfold day after day. Resolve that you will do more than you are already doing to “Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3).
Visit abort73.com for more info and guidance.
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Posted under Christian Living
…And I’m going to pray for him — how ’bout you?
I’m going to offer thanks to our sovereign Lord.
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority…” (1 Tim 2:1-2).
It’s absurd for American citizens to say that America’s elected President is not their President. How much more absurd for an American Christian who professes to worship the God proclaimed in Daniel 2:20-21 to say that Barack Obama is not his or her President.
I want to highlight something President Bush said last week in his farewell address.
Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose history reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.
We don’t have coups, insurrections, and overthrows in America. We have peaceful transitions of government officials elected by the citizens. Millions of people living under tyrannts and dictators in this world long for what we have. We have so much to be grateful for this day. Rejoice and be glad! The God who determines when and where we each live (Acts 17:26) has blessed us far beyond what we deserve.
On the eve of this inaugural week, I want to give you this quote from Charles Spurgeon. We in America will all be thinking of our government this week. Anyone that has read this blog for any time knows that I now believe evangelical Christians have placed far too high a bet on human government and the political process, and we are on the verge of losing our house because of this foolish wager. I haven’t always seen the foolishness of our ways as clearly as I do now. But Charles Spurgeon saw it, and warned us.
One of the great downfalls of American evangelicalism has been evangelical preachers preaching politics instead of only the gospel. My question for evangelicals, primarily evangelical pastors, is will we repent and follow in the way of Paul and Spurgeon?
In 1858, Spurgeon preached on 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” In that sermon he says…
Besides, in Corinth, there was now and then sure to be a political struggle, and I have no doubt that the apostle Paul felt for his people, the Jews, and he would have liked to see all his Jewish kindred have the privilege of citizenship. Sometimes the Corinthians would hold a public meeting, in which they would support the opinion that the Jews ought not to have citizenship in Corinth; might not the apostle have made a speech at such a gathering? If he had been asked to do so, he would have said, “I know nothing about such matters; all I know is Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” They had political lectures, no doubt, in Corinth; and one man delivered a lecture upon this subject, and another upon that; in fact, all kinds of wonderful themes taken from the ancient poets were descanted upon by different men. Did not the apostle Paul take one of the lectures? Did he not say, “I may throw a little gospel into it, and so do some good”? No, he said, “I come here as Christ’s minister, and I will never be anything else but Christ’s minister; I will never address the Corinthians in any other character than that of Christ’s ambassador. For one thing only have I determined to know, and that is, Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Would to God that all the ministers of this age had determined to do the same!
Do you not sometimes find a minister who takes a prominent part in an election, who thinks it his business to stand forth on the political platform of the nation; and did it ever strike you that he was out of his place, that it was his business to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ, and him crucified? Do we not see, at every corner of our streets, a lecture advertised to be delivered on this and that and the other subject, by this minister and that, who leave their pulpits in order that they may be enabled to deliver lectures upon all kinds of subjects? “No,” Paul would have said, “if I cannot spread the gospel of Christ legitimately, by preaching it openly, I will not do it by taking an absurd title for my sermon; for the gospel shall stand or fall on its own merits, and with no enticing words of man’s wisdom will I preach it.” Let anyone say to me, “Come and give your able advocacy for this or that reform,” and my answer would be, “I do not know anything about that subject, for I have determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” As Albert Barnes very well says, “This should be the resolution of every minister of the gospel. This is his business — not to be a politician; not to engage in the attires and controversies of men; not to be merely a good farmer, or scholar; not to mingle with his people in festive circles and enjoyments; not to be a man of taste and philosophy, and distinguished mainly for refinement of manners; not to be a profound philosopher or metaphysician, but to make Christ crucified the grand object of his attention, and to seek always and everywhere to make him known.
I absolutely agree. Christian preachers must be about one thing — the gospel of Jesus Christ. What could happen in America if not only every preacher, but every Christian would make Christ crucified the grand object of our attention, and seek always and everywhere to make him known?
If you want to read the entire sermon, click this link: Christ Crucified.
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Posted under God's Word & Gospel
If there is one book of the Bible I would recommend Christians should master, it is Galatians. It has been called “the Magna Charta of spiritual emancipation.” For the last 30 years, I have found myself going to it again and again to mine the depth of it’s riches. Galatians was a favorite of Martin Luther. He called it “my own Epistle, to which I have plighted my troth. It is my Katie von Bora” [that was his wife’s name!]. It became the hammer in his hand to pound away at the bondage caused by a false religious system of works righteousness. For all of the Protestant Reformers, Galatians was central in their preaching.
As Merril Tenney says, in Galatians, Paul “was describing what he himself was enjoying after having lived a large part of his life in legalistic bondage.”
Recently, I was working through Tim Keller’s Galatians study guide. He points out that Paul began to see how God had been at work throughout his whole life (1:15). The same is true of you and me. Can you see it?
Keller also notes that Paul “had been a fanatically intense person who felt superior in his self-righteousness and only criticized others (1:14). But God humbled him and showed him he was nothing apart from undeserved grace so that now he loves to lead people to praise and thanks” (1:24). Understanding God’s grace causes us to realize we’re no better than anyone else, and that radically changes our approach to people. Eradicating our sense of self-righteousness evaporates our critical spirit.
Thirdly, Keller points out that Paul realized before knowing Christ “his obsessive study of the Bible and theology (’the traditions’) was originally motivated by self-righteousness and the need to feel superior.” Now, as a Christian, he only wanted to help others know Christ also (a very different motivation). It was all about Jesus. In himself, Paul was no better than anyone else. He had no right to look down on others. He could only spend his life trying to help them know the same Jesus that had forgiven him and set him free.
May we all live in that way and for that purpose!
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Verse:
John 3:16; Jn 3:16; John 3
Keyword:
Salvation, Jesus, Gospel
With Operators:
AND, OR, NOT, “ â€
sad. so sad. we need to really pray for obama.